Transcendence - Review @ PlayThisThing

January 5th, 2008, 20:16

I'm pushing pretty hard against the boundaries of our genre and heading into off-topic with this but it's very quiet and I thought some "oldies" might recall Star Control II fondly (and Elite)…indie site PlayThisThing has a review of the (free) space exploration/rogue-like/shmup Transcendence and it sounds like fun for anyone interested in this type of game:

Transcendence's developer, George Moromisato, says his game is inspired by Elite, Star Control II and NetHack — at first glance, a rather odd combination. After all, the first two are open-ended space games, and the third a Rogue-like; yet on second thought, both game styles share certain characteristics. Both create algorithmically generated universes — that is, instead of having preplanned levels, both generate the challenges faced by the player at runtime, in a semi-random fashion. Both give the player control of a single game token: in the case of Rogue-likes, a character, and in the case of Elite-style games, a starship. And both measure progress by the increasing capabilities of your game token—in terms of levels for Rogue-likes, and in terms of ship improvements (and newer and more powerful ships) in Elite-style games.

I got the game installed and I got as far as the computer demo screen, but I can't start an actual game. I didn't spend a lot of time with it. It sounds like a fun game, but it doesn't seem to be running properly on first glance.

RGCD the Retro Gamer site has an informative review as well which is followed up with a developer interview. Well worth a read. Transcendence

I'm running it under XP Pro on a Core2Duo 6600 with 2 gigs of ram. It runs great for me.

It takes 30 - 45 secs, on occasion as long as a minute, to actually generate the Universe and get past the initial loading screen. Once past that you arrive at the main screen where you can enter a name, select male/female, ect and click New Game.

Once you click "New Game" you're taken to the Select Ship Screen. After you pick a ship click the button between the arrows to begin the game.

If you can't get it running check the debug.log for clues and/or post on the games forum. George seems pretty quick to respond and I'm sure he would appreciate knowing. One thing I've seen mentioned is you need the latest DirectX.

Edit to add:

Apparently the latest build v98d doesn't default to DirectX use any longer.
This DirectX change was done to allow the game to run better under Vista & WINE on linux. As a result if you're having problems getting the game running or with its performance try the /dx switch. (ie Transcendence.exe /dx) I tried this & the game cut load times down to about 15 secs; it also played smoother. You can run it in a window using /windowed.

To eleminate the borders at the top and bottom of the game screen run your desktop in a 4:3 resolution (ie 1024 x 768, 1200 x 1600 ect) and try the /dx switch. When playing the game it should then run full screen. Note that the borders will still be seen on the initial Loading/Menu screen. At least this worked for me.

— End Edit—

Keep in mind that Transcendence is still in development with a ways to go; even given that fact there's a lot of game here. It's also moddable and several mods are already available.

The game starts off slow, but picks up quickly once you're a few systems in. Exploration & experimentation are the name of the game. I'm finding it quite enjoyable. The complete randomization of the universe for each new character, which by the way extends to the effects items give, makes playing each one a unique experience.

There's a lot of info on the Transcendence Site so check it out. In particular read the Captain's Primer and Faq found under the Explore heading.

Here's a link to an Unofficial Faq available on a pretty decent forum for the game.

On arstechnica this Transcendence tips thread has helpfull info & tips. The thread is an older one which was locked due to length. Most likely a newer one exists but I'm not registered so cannot use the search function to find it.

Ubbax"There is just one thing I can promise you about the space program: Your dollars will go farther."
- Wernher von Braun